Goldfish by josullivan.59, used under Creative Commons
That’s a saying I’ve heard in a number of places. I have a terrible memory. Ah, it’s great and everything, but it’s sadly short. So I don’t lie. I’m too stupid I have too short a memory for that.
That’s such a relief! I know that going in. In everything I do. I don’t lie. I play it open. There - now you know too.
In fact, I would go so far as to say that it makes me better. Because since I’m playing it open it puts the pressure on me to be great and make sure that my work can withstand scrutiny and review by everyone that I share it with. It’s not scary - because that is how it is from the start.
This is the same kind of thinking that can be found behind the Chaos Monkey at Netflix:
Oh, yeah… One more thing before you start to write code here for us at Netflix. You should know that we have a program that runs around our server farm and shuts things down. Network cards, CPUs, and databases… those kinds of things. Make sure you think about it when you write your program.
The code is, of course, better, because we know that we have to take this into consideration. Are we coding for change or stability?
What would this be for an entire business? The “don’t lie” or “Don’t be a dick” as we say at Aptitud. I was playing with this thought:
We are running our business so that we are never nervous for audits, reviews, or if a newspaper/tv-station etc. tells us that they are going to investigate us. On the contrary - we welcome them.
We don’t have to be nervous if we are already open. In fact, let’s welcome them. Let’s help them find the things they need. “Embrace the inspectors” is one of the important points of Turn the Ship Around. We want to be inspected because we want to learn. Invite them. Ask questions, ask how others have gone about solving the problems.
But… it requires courage. And that you don’t have anything to hide. Or that you need not have anything to hide because your memory is so short.
I hinted in the heading that there’s a certification around this methodology. You just passed it. Reading this blog post. Download your certificate here. Please enter your name and the date for the certification. I trust you!
For reference - here is my certificate:
